dod tactical herbicide sites - United States Department of Defense

DOD TACTICAL HERBICIDE SITESSite 21Location: Fort Gordon, Augusta, GeorgiaFort Chaffee, Fort Smith, ArkansasApalachicola National Forest, Sopchoppy, FloridaDate → July 1967 – October 1967Activity Description: During the period December 1966 to October 1967, thenewly named “Plant Science Laboratories” at Fort Detrick initiated a comprehensiveshort-term project to evaluate desiccants and herbicidal mixtures as rapid-actingdefoliants. The objectives of this study were to evaluate rapid-acting desiccants asdefoliants and to assess the defoliation response of woody vegetation to mixtures ofherbicides and/or desiccants. The criteria for assessment was based principally onrapidity of action, but included other features such as safety and ease of handling,compatibility with dissemination systems, and low toxicity to man and wildlife.The approach to the objective of an improved rapid-acting defoliant involved threephases: (1) evaluation of commercially available rapid desiccants or contact herbicides;(2) evaluation of improved formulations of rapid desiccants developed under industrycontacts and by in-house effort; (3) development and evaluation of desiccant-herbicidemixtures containing the rapid defoliant characteristics with the sustained long-termeffects of Orange and other Tactical Herbicides. The project required an immediateaccess to a diversity of woody vegetation. Accordingly, Fort Detrick arranged for testlocations at Fort Gordon near Augusta, Georgia; Fort Chaffee near Fort Smith, Arkansas,and Apalachicola National Forest near Sopchoppy, Florida.The Georgia site was described as a warm temperate, humid, moderate rainfall climatewith deep, well-drained sands in rolling topography. The vegetation type was an oakhickory-pineforest. The Arkansas site was described as a temperate continental,moderate rainfall climate with fine sandy loam soils in rolling topography. Thevegetation type was an oak-hickory forest. The Apalachicola National Forest site wasdescribed as a subtropical, humid, moderate precipitation climate with sandy soils in aflat poorly drained topography. The vegetation type was described as a Southern mixedforest. All sites were selected because of their isolation from any local humanpopulations, e.g., in Florida, the site was a ridge located in a swamp forest.Assessment: The desiccants selected for evaluation included Herbicide Blue (atactical herbicide), and the commercial desiccants diquat, paraquat, dinitrobutylphenol49